I am thinking to use the cheque d'emploi to pay casual workers and although I know the principle of how it works, I am unsure of one thing - If I ask someone to work at my house with the intention of paying by cheque d'emploi - and the gendarmes call to see "if I have someone working on the black" - how can I prove that it was my intention to pay them by this official method?
Regards
geoff
You don't need a special cheque book - it is all done on line now. You need to register yourself (URSAFF site) and enter the name of the employee and his/her social security number (carte vitale). Then when they have done work, add the hours and amount.
The activities that can be paid by chèque emploi service are limited: gardening, housework, babysitting, some help with school work, a small amount of decorating.
You cannot use this means to pay a builder, for example. You can use it to pay someone to fix a leaking tap, but not to plumb in a radiator.
Not if you don't earn enough to pay impôt sur le revenu!
We paid a babysitter like this but it is expensive as you have to pay minimum wage, 10% holiday pay and the social charges. At works out a good two thirds on top of the hourly rate you agree BUT then you get 50% or something back at the end of the year if you are eligible. It is only for specific kinds of work though.
But you can claim the charges on the tax return although you do have to fork out the cash initially. However, it seems to be a very popular payment method.
I paid my cleaner with these, I think I paid her 15 Euros an hour and I had to pay about the same amount in social charges, so not a cheap option!!
It is just a standard contract that you can get on the URSAFF website. You register your employee on the site and when you pay them (which you can do with an ordinary bank cheque) you register the payment and number of hours worked on the site (for which you have an id and password) and the cotisations are taken from your bank account. You then claim these back on your tax return. I am paid like this for teaching English privately. For my daughter's piano teacher I used a special cheque book - ticket CESU - as these were available at a discount through my husband's work. When you have regisered your payment on the site, you receive an 'avis de prélèvement automatique des cotisations sociales' which is your proof. The employee receives an 'attestation d'emploi valant bulletin de salaire', which is his or her proof.
My understanding is that if they are going to work for you regularly then they have the right to request the equivalent of an employment contract so that would be proof. When I read the small print it put me off using someone more than once.
This explains it - http://www.cesu.urssaf.fr/cesweb/ces1.jsp
You can use them to pay someone who does up to a certain number (see site) of hours as a regular thing eg weekly, or for one-off jobs - you order a special cheque-book and there are special slips that go with each cheque so all the social charges are taken out of your account. You don't need an employment contract. If someone is doing a job for you and you are asked about the legality of their employment you just show them the slips proving you are paying social charges. You hang on to everything because some things are tax-deductible (again, see site as I can't remember which ones off the top of my head) I hope this helps!
You need to check that the work you want to have done comes into the cesu categories - they are quite specific.